Natural Health after Birth addresses a new mother's need to replenish her body, mind, and spirit so that she can nurture her child. This book provides support both for women who are stay-at-home moms and those who must return to their jobs soon after the birth.

Description

About Natural Health after Birth

Provides essential advice for adjusting to the many challenges facing women during the first year after giving birth.

• Offers practical tips for finding balance between being fully immersed in the beautiful but demanding path of motherhood and maintaining a sense of self.

• Addresses a new mother's need to replenish her body, mind, and spirit so that she can nurture her child.

• By the author of The Natural Pregnancy Book and Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent's Guide.

New mothers need care and support to adjust to the myriad challenges facing them after birth: changing body image, lifestyle, work arrangements, and relationships. Midwife, herbalist, and mother of four, Aviva Jill Romm shares her insights into how to make this crucial time a happy one. She provides essential advice for preparing for the postpartum period, coping during the first few days after the birth, establishing a successful breast-feeding relationship, getting enough rest, eating well even with a hectic schedule, and finding time to regain strength and tone with gentle yoga exercises. Woven throughout are helpful herbal tips and recipes to make the first year of motherhood a naturally healthy one.

Natural Health after Birth also addresses a new mother's need to replenish her body, mind, and spirit so that she can nurture her child. This book provides support both for women who plan to be home full or part time during the first year and those who must return to their jobs soon after the birth. With humor and compassion, Romm offers mothers practical wisdom for attaining the delicate balance between being fully immersed in the beautiful but demanding path of motherhood and maintaining a sense of self.

Excerpt

Book Excerpt

What is the Postpartum?

Midwife Raven Lang once stated, "As long as the baby is still in diapers and you're up in the night, you're postpartum." Such a view reminds mothers that the demands of motherhood, which can include intense sleep deprivation and maximum amounts of energy being poured out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to another person, no matter how loved and wanted that baby is, is demanding. Unfortunately, our cultural definition of postpartum does not include this more simple and holistic view.

Rather than limiting postpartum to an arbitrarily chosen six weeks allowed for recovery, many midwives, childbirth educators, and postpartum doulas are encouraging women to see the postpartum as a fourth trimester, allowing themselves at least a full three months for physical recovery, spiritual integration, and emotional assimilation. Even three months, agree many experts, may be too short a time, with many mothers saying that it was closer to eight months when they began to feel more settled in their role as mother, and able to also regain a sense of personal identity and clarity. Three months, however, may be considered the first milestone when women begin to feel like they are getting their feet on the ground. It also gives friends and family a clear framework for setting expectations for the mother, allowing her three full months to receive active help and support. Most of all, it allows you to be gentle with yourself on those days that are more challenging, and gives you an excuse to lie around snuggling with that beautiful baby, savoring every minute as he or she blossoms before your eyes.

After the three-month milestone, one can realistically expect to continue to experience emotional peaks and valleys for many more months as hormones fluctuate, eating habits vary, sleep deprivation continues, baby's breastfeed, and you strive to keep up with your baby's changing schedule and needs. As a midwife I continue to get calls from mothers well into the first year after they've given birth, with questions about sleeping habits, teething, breastfeeding, introducing solid foods, and so on. It is always an opportunity to really check in with the mom to see how she is doing, whether she is caring for herself as well as she is caring for her baby, and to praise her on a job well done. These phone conversations are often filled with sighs of relief from the moms, as they hear me remind them that feeling overwhelmed is part of the territory of motherhood in our fast-paced society, and reflects no short-comings of their own. Expanding the definition for postpartum to include the first year after birth may initially seem like a long time, which in itself may be intimidating, but in the long run it allows you flexible boundaries and should relieve you of a false deadline that says you have to "have it together" by a certain time.

Table of Contents

Table of content

Introduction ONEThe Birth of a Mother Birth: Only the Beginning What Is the Postpartum? Postnatal Care The Fourth Trimester Signs and Guideposts Honoring Our Range of Emotions Being a Mother Is Second Nature, Isn't It? Realistic Expectations The Feminine Mystique Revisited Sacrifice and Empowerment Developing Confidence Mothering Archetypes TWONew-Mother Care around the World Postpartum USA: Immediately after Birth Immediately after Birth: A Glimpse at Traditions Lying-In Rites of Passage Postpartum Family Support Heat and Healing Massage Wrapping the Belly Herbs Bathing Nutrition Visitors Mother-Baby Men and Postpartum Care Bringing the Best to the West THREEPreparing for the Postpartum before Baby Is Born Late Pregnancy Health Is the Foundation for a Healthy Birth Recovery The Needs of New Mothers Creating a Support Circle Breast Feeding Maternity and Paternity Leaves Creating a Postpartum Sanctuary Drawing from a Full Well FOURThe First Days after Birth The Birth Setting and Postpartum Experience Bonding Physical Changes in the Days after Birth Herbal Baths The Shape of Your Body Healing from a Cesarean Your Digestive System When Your Milk Comes In Breast-Feeding Challenges in the First Days Sore Nipples Difficulty Nursing Insufficient Breast Milk Breast-Feeding Support in the Days after Birth If You Aren't Breast-Feeding Reflecting on Your Birth A Difficult Birth Emotional Highs and Lows Body Tonics Exercise Sex after Birth Your Healthy Newborn Signs of Illness in the Newborn Babies in Need of Special Care Getting Enough Rest Visitors, Visitors, and More Visitors New-Mama Nutrition The Partner Relationship Older Children FIVEThe Next Six Weeks More Body Changes Where Did Everybody Go . . . or Yes, You Still Need Help around the House Reinventing Yourself as a Mother More Birth Reflections Further Breast-Feeding Adventures Herbs and Breast Feeding The Magic of Your Baby Fussy Babies Infant Massage Sleeping Arrangements Getting Around with Baby More Exercises for Loving Your Post-Birth Body Back into the Swing of Things Working and Breast-Feeding Breast Pumps, Nursing, and Making It Work Relationship Challenges and Triumphs Sex in the Weeks after Birth Baby Blues Postpartum Depression The Light at the End of the Tunnel SIXNutrition for New Mothers Not Pregnant Anymore: What You Need Now Lactation and Nutrition Planning a Healthy Diet SEVENInto the First Year Wondering Who You Are "I Feel Like I Can't Get Anything Done" Your Body Motherhood and Your Career Teething Baby, Sleepless Nights Still Nursing New-Mother Moods Isolation and Social Networks Postpartum Depression Parenting Issues Relationships, Sexuality, Fertility, and Birth Control EIGHTReplenishing Yourself New-Mother Meditations New-Mother Checklist Creating Time to Nurture Yourself Your Pelvic Floor Free-Movement Dance Postnatal Yoga Fabulous Healing Baths Shower Spa Simple Pleasures for Your Hair and Body Creating a Home Spa Quiet Time Alone Exploring Your Creativity Keeping a Journal Be Gentle with Yourself: Embrace and Enjoy Your Baby

Aviva Jill Romm is a certified professional midwife, practicing herbalist, and the president of the American Herbalists Guild. Her children are now ages 17, 14, 10, and 8. Her previous books include The Natural Pregnancy Book, Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide, and Naturally Healthy Babies and Children. She lives with her family in Georgia.

Reviews

Reviews

Book Praise

Book Praise

"This is a superb and much needed book that should help and support all postpartum mothers." Suzanne Arms, award winning photojournalist, author of Immaculate Deception II : Myth, Magic and Birth

"Thirty years ago, when I had my babies, we were rediscovering natural birth and breast-feeding. But, we struggled alone during postpartum. If I had been able to read Aviva's book then, I would have cried less. Every new mother should have a copy of this book." Peggy O'Mara, Editor and Publisher of Mothering magazine

"Destined to have widespread appeal for its compassionate and wise advice. Thank you, Aviva, for so much vital information in one volume. Jeannine Parvati Baker, author of Prenatal Yoga and Natural Childbirth

"Finally, a book that addresses an aspect of birthing that has been forgotten in the western world.This book should make a valuable contribution not only to women, but to the whole family." Mary Bove, N.D., of the Brattleboro Naturopathic Clinic, Brattleboro, Vermont

Back Cover

Back Cover Copy

PARENTING / PREGNANCY

“Destined to have widespread appeal for its compassionate and wise advice. Thank you, Aviva, for so much vital information in one volume.” --Jeannine Parvati Baker, author of Prenatal Yoga and Natural Childbirth

“Finally, a book that addresses an aspect of birthing that has been forgotten in the Western world. This book should make a valuable contribution not only to women, but to the whole family.” --Mary Bove, N.D., author of An Encyclopedia of Natural Healing for Children and Infants

“This is a superb and much-needed book that should help and support all postpartum mothers.” --Suzanne Arms, award-winning photojournalist and author of Immaculate Deception II: Myth, Magic & Birth

New mothers need their own special care and support--just like their new babies--to adjust to the myriad challenges facing them after birth: changing body image, lifestyle, work arrangements, and relationships. Now midwife, herbalist, and mother of four, Aviva Jill Romm shares her years of experience and insights into how to make this crucial life transition a smooth and happy one.

Aviva offers solutions to situations that can seem completely overwhelming--how to get enough rest by building a support circle of family and friends; how to eat well using her 17 high-energy recipes; how to replenish your spirit with healing baths; and how to regain your strength and tone your abdomen and pelvic area with postnatal yoga exercises. Providing 80 easy-to-make herbal remedies to heal and restore vitality to your body and to stimulate milk production, Aviva carries her advice through the entire first year, including tips on how to soothe fussy babies and how to recapture your sex life.

Natural Health after Birth provides the support that is so often lacking for new mothers--support both for stay-at-home moms and those who will return to their jobs soon after the birth. Written with humor and compassion by someone who really understands the journey, Aviva Romm offers practical wisdom and concrete strategies for negotiating the beautiful but demanding path of motherhood while maintaining a strong sense of self.

AVIVA JILL ROMM is a certified professional midwife, practicing herbalist, and the president of the American Herbalists Guild. Her children are now ages 17, 14, 10, and 8. Her previous books include The Natural Pregnancy Book, Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide, and Naturally Healthy Babies and Children. She lives with her family in Georgia.

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Founded in 1975, Inner Traditions • Bear & Company is one of the largest and oldest publishing houses in the world devoted exclusively to the subjects of spirituality, the occult, ancient mysteries, new science, holistic health, and natural medicine. Happily nestled in the Green Mountains of Vermont for more than 30 years, the company now has over 1,700 titles in print.